


Shrouded

by Starofwinter



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Buried Alive, Buried Fic, Dead People, Other, Statement Fic, almost at least, non-graphic description of corpses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 02:37:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20807129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: Statement of Kieran Burns, regarding a night in the woods.





	Shrouded

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in less than an hour because I had the vivid image of the Buried avatar described here.

**Statement of Kieran Burns, regarding a night in the woods.**

* * *

She was pretty, in a weird kind of way. I wasn’t expecting some kind of fashion statement at a random club, but I just figured she was an art student or something; I’ve dated a few, they’re fun, for all that they usually end up using your picture in a display about betrayal or something after they break up with you for not liking underground trashcore music or whatever.

Anyway. Yeah, she was pretty, even dressed in a fluffy white… dress, or cloak, or  _ something _ , with flowers tucked into it. She was pale, like  _ really _ pale, I was into it, really. I was a goth myself in high school, and I still liked it, even if I’d left the all black clothes and white face paint behind. It just made me curious about her, but we didn’t really talk  _ that _ much, I didn’t even catch her name.

Barely half an hour later, she leaned up to whisper in my ear, and invited me to bed. Those words, too.  _ Do you want to come to bed with me? _

I wasn’t going to say no to that. Look, I was twenty and stupid and I hadn’t had a hookup in longer than I wanted to think about, and she had this look about her that took my breath away, as cheesy as that sounds. So of course I paid for the drinks and followed her out. When she took my hand, hers was freezing. I offered her my jacket, my Da would have had my arse if I hadn’t, but she just laughed and said she didn’t feel cold. Maybe that should have said something, but  _ young and stupid _ . 

She led me into the woods.  _ Mam _ would have had my arse for following, she’s always been big on the whole fairy thing. I wasn’t really thinking, but when she led me to a hollow in the trees, I started to ask myself what I was doing. 

_ It’s softer than it looks _ .

I don’t know why I let her pull me down into the hollow - it was like I couldn’t stop myself anymore. I wanted to know how it felt. She was right, it was soft, and warm, like a really nice bed, and it smelled sweet, from all the flowers there. I’d stopped thinking about sex, and all I wanted to do was stay there and sleep for a very long time.

She laid down beside me, and then I started to realize what was so  _ wrong _ about her, now that I was close enough to see. It wasn’t makeup making her look too pale, with that weird hint of grayish purple. What I’d thought was a dress was a burial shroud. 

When she opened her eyes, she was cloudy and blank, and she smiled with a death’s head grin, lips peeling back from her teeth. I tried to pull away, to get out of the grave I’d found myself in, but my legs sank into the dirt like quicksand. It took so much effort to pull my hand out that I almost collapsed, but I knew I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, I was as good as dead. 

What saved me was the wild rose bush. I still have scars from the thorns that dug into my hands, but I gripped it as hard as I could and  _ pulled _ . It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I still don’t really know how I managed it. I could barely walk, but I stumbled out of the woods as fast as I could, and wouldn’t you know it, a policeman was driving past right as I did.

He got me calmed down and listened to my story, what I could manage of it, and nodded like he really believed me, as weird as the whole thing sounds now. He made a few calls, and I heard the words  _ Section 31 _ thrown around a lot, but I don’t remember much else. 

He brought me home, and told me I ought to talk to somebody here about it, but honestly, I just wanted to forget. I didn’t want to know what they found or didn’t, and I didn’t want to talk to anybody about it. The nightmares were certainly a reminder enough, and I still get them sometimes when I’m under too much stress; being dragged down into the grave, that horrible grin, the way the dirt clung to my legs… I know I’ll have more tonight, but… it’s good to talk about it, I think. 

* * *

**There is no supplemental material, aside from a dozen articles about a body found in the woods near the area specified in the statement. A young woman was found, her body buried in a shallow grave, wrapped in a burial shroud; it appeared that she had been there for only a short time, and she matched no missing persons reports. There was no discernible cause of death. Several articles say that the body went missing from the morgue the next day, and asked for any information about the theft.**


End file.
